Sunday, August 16, 2015

I try to visit local Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) temples wherever I go. It's mainly due to a fortune reading I did years back that revealed (I only remember vaguely) my life's(?) affinity to the deity and that if I offered more prayers to her there would be more peace and goodness in my life. I'm all for more peace and goodness in my life!

This Goddess of Mercy temple also knows by the locals as 'Kuan Yin Teng' is the oldest Chinese temple in Penang said to be built in 1728. Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) is probably the more notable of deities clad in her elegant white robe offering compassion and benevolence to her devotees.

Guy and I stopped to make a prayer. In our experience each temple may differ (in terms of number of joss sticks to be used and the prayer flow / direction) but temple go-ers are relatively helpful so just feel free to ask the aunties how to go about it. We were slightly worried someone was gonna steal our rented tandem bike so what we did was park our bicycle at one of those stalls (we chose the most busybody looking auntie seller) outside selling prayer amenities and bought a couple of lotus candles from her in exchange that she'd also watch our bike. Heh.